5 new laws affecting businesses in 2013

Looking back, 2013 may be remembered more for the legislation that didn't get done in Michigan, as opposed to the bills that were signed into law.

Among the big-ticket items that were not approved in 2013 were transportation funding, no-fault auto insurance reform, expansion of the Educational Achievement Authority, reforms to the Certificate of Need process and adding sexual orientation to the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act.

But that's not to say lawmakers weren't busy.

Here are five of the biggest laws from 2013:

1. Medicaid expansion

Gov. Rick Snyder made Medicaid expansion a top priority in 2013, and while it took him much longer than initially thought, in the end, it got done, but not without controversy.

Snyder went on the offensive in the summer, pressuring Republican senators to come back from their vacations and vote on the bill. The Senate took its time instead, and when the day came, it took hours of vote wrangling to make it happen.

After the bill's passage, the Senate was unable to find two more votes to give it immediate effect, meaning people couldn't sign up to receive coverage until mid-March rather than Jan. 1. That was a problem for those individuals, and also for the state, because the delay put a $70 million hole in the Community Health budget that still has not been fixed.

A few months later, a new bill was drafted, sans the abortion language, and Snyder signed it. Under the new law, the Blues will contribute as much as $1.56 billion over 18 years to a fund aimed at improving the health and wellness of state residents. It will also pay an estimated $100 million in annual state and local taxes.

3. Abortion coverage

After Snyder's veto of that controversial abortion language, requiring women who previously purchased an optional insurance rider to cover an abortion procedure before knowing they would need one, Right to Life of Michigan continued to pursue a way to make it law.

Knowing the governor's objection to it, the pro-life organization used the rare tactic of a voter-initiated law and sought signatures from around the state to put the language before the Legislature. Doing it this way allowed for it to become law once a simple majority in the House and Senate approved it. Snyder would not be allowed to veto it this time.

During the final week of the legislative session, lawmakers approved it. It will become law in mid-March.

4. New vehicle, boat sales tax

When buying a new boat or vehicle after trading in an old one, Michigan residents will pay less in taxes than they did previously.

Before the law went into effect, the buyer of a new vehicle or boat was required to pay sales tax on the total price of the new vehicle. The law did not take into account trade-ins that reduce the bottom line price.

Now it will — or at least eventually it will.

For vehicles, the law will be phased in over a 24-year period, but in the first year, purchasers of a new vehicle can subtract up to $2,000. It will increase $500 annually after that.

5. Zoo/DIA tax revenue

Cities and tax increment finance authorities in southeast Michigan are no longer able to capture tax revenue anticipated to be collected for the Detroit Institute of Arts and Detroit Zoo, following the signing of a seven-bill package to stop the tax capture.

In 2008, voters in the region approved a 10-year tax levy to support the Detroit Zoo and the DIA, but after that, various Wayne County communities had held back a small share of the tax revenue.

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